At the end of every summer, first-year students at the School of Medicine prepare themselves for a strenuous year of gross anatomy, biochemistry and other new challenges. This year's 98-person class, however, bears a slightly different face.
The number of underrepresented minorities-which include Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and mainland Puerto Ricans according to the Association of American Medical Colleges-increased from 16 to 22 percent since last year. Already tied with Yale's medical school for the largest enrollment of minorities among top-10 schools, the University now hopes to climb even further.
In a related attempt to represent women fairly in the medical school, the incoming class boasts an almost equal number of men and women.
The increase in underrepresented minorities comes as a result of the University-wide initiative to increase diversity, explained Dr. Brenda Armstrong, director of admissions for the School of Medicine. Armstrong emphasized that the School of Medicine is doing its part to "fall in line" with the directives of President Nan Keohane and the Board of Trustees, who have already enjoyed success in other areas, including a 33 percent jump in incoming black undergraduates. Dr. Dan Blazer, dean of medical education, said that increasing underrepresented minority enrollment has been on the medical school's agenda for quite some time, and has been more actively pursued in the past three years.
To accomplish the University-wide goal, the medical school has also increased the number of underrepresented minority faculty, interns and residents, Armstrong added. "Students don't want to go to school in a climate where they feel there is a problem," she said. "This effort is about giving access to people who would've been able to come to Duke anyway," she said.
The numbers of aspiring physicians, however, has decreased nationally-a trend evident in Duke's application numbers, Armstrong said. Only about half of the medical school's accepted applicants actually matriculate, she said, explaining that the University is competing for students with other top medical institutions.
Ultimately, promoting diversity in medical schools helps serve patient needs. Both Armstrong and Blazer stressed that patients often feel more comfortable with physicians of similar background, whether gender or race. "The importance [of having underrepresented minorities in the medical field] lies in developing a group of practicing physicians which reflects the racial or ethnic diversity of the country for the future," Blazer said.
"They really tried to pick people with diverse backgrounds who could contribute something to the class," said Roxanne Woel, second-year medical student.
Woel added that many of her classmates' decisions to attend Duke's medical school was influenced by its initiative to enroll underrepresented minorities. For Woel's class, the school had a weekend during which already-accepted minorities visited campus. Armstrong said that since this recruiting tool was successful, with about 80 percent of attendees later enrolling, she opened the weekend to all students, encouraging them to take a "second look" at the campus. "We believe integrating all our students is essential for the professional education for becoming a doctor," Blazer said, adding that the medical school does have a minority student organization and a committee on minority affairs.
Although all medical schools must make similar efforts to ensure that the demographics of physicians match those of the community, "it is not a national trend, though there has been a major effort by organizations to make this a trend," Blazer noted.
Administrators are proud of the statistic, but they hope to be on the rise and not heading for a plateau. "I think that we've come a long way and we still have a long way to go," Armstrong said.
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